All You Need to Know About Invoices under GST

The most awaited indirect tax reform in the history of India, i.e Goods and Services Tax Act is all set to roll out on 1^st July, 2017.

As the deadline for implementation of GST coming closer, there were speculations in the trade circle that invoices under GST have to be issued as per prescribed formats and that issuing of invoices to be an extra-burden on the traders. However, these apprehensions have been reported as incorrect.

Here’s some important facts the tax payers/ traders need to know about the provisions relating to invoices under GST.

1. All the tax payers under the GST regime are free to design their own invoice format. The law requires certain fields must mandatorily be in the invoice.
2. Under the new tax regime, small tax payers, i.e, tax payers having turnover below 1.5 crore need not mention the HSN code of goods in the invoices. All others are required to mention the HSN code in the invoice.
3. Invoice must be raised any time before the goods are delivered. In case of services, it can be raised any time within 30 days from the date of supply of service.
4. Where goods are transported for delivery, but quantity to be supplied is not known at the time of removal, the goods may be removed on delivery of challan and invoice may be issued after delivery.
5. In cases where VAT Invoices are issued for non-taxable supplies, there is no need to issue a separate Bill under GST.
6. Small tax payers, including small retailers are not required to submit individual invoices for transactions with unregistered customers where the value of good is below Rs. 200. Instead, they required to furnish a consolidated invoice for all such transactions at the end of each day. However, if the customer demands an invoice, they are bound to issue the same.
7. Unlike the existing law, the consignors need not carry the invoice during transportation. GSTN provides a facility to obtain an invoice reference number and if a taxpayer has generated this number, he need not be accompanied by invoice during the course of transportation of goods.

Tax payers from the field of Banking, Insurance and passenger transport do not require mentioning the address of the customers in the invoice.